History Main / TalkingToThemself

* Parodied in ''Film/SuicideSquad2016''. Harley Quinn says the voices in her head said that she should kill everyone and escape. Then she laughs and says "Just kidding. That's not what they said."

* ''Film/{{Underwater}}''. Norah thinks she's the SoleSurvivor until she hears Emily babbling to herself on the radio, a result of stress and depleted oxygen, while hauling the unconscious body of her colleague to whom she makes an AnguishedDeclarationOfLove. She panics when Norah tackles her as she thinks it's one of the monsters attacking, having already written Norah off as dead.

* ''Theatre/TwilightTheMusical'' uses this comically. [[FriendlyNeighborhoodVampire Edward Cullen]] must argue his evil reflection about whether or not he should eat Bella. Further HilarityEnsues in later episodes, when his schizo conversations grow to include more characters: a doll and cardboard stand-up of Robert Pattinson.

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It seems that in fiction [[SplitPersonality split personalities]] can talk to each other, manifesting as HearingVoices. Sometimes the various personalities will talk to each other inside the character's head, sometimes one of them (by implication the "real" or "dominant" one) will talk out loud, and sometimes they'll ''all'' talk out loud, being distinguished by cinematography, facial expression or vocal differences. While different people in a multiple personality group ''can and do'' talk to each other, this is of course exaggerated for dramatic purposes in media portrayals of multiple personalities — see SplitPersonality for a more in-depth explanation.

Even entirely sane (or ''[[CloudCuckoolander mostly]]'' sane) people can be prone to this trope if the other voices represent simple conflicting desires like "brain versus heart", "[[UsefulNotes/IdSuperegoAndEgo id versus superego]]", or GoodAngelBadAngel.

* [[BadassNormal Agito]], [[BadassAdorable Akito]] and [[spoiler: Lind]] of ''Manga/AirGear'' all inhabit the same body and talk to each other occasionally.

* Subverted in ''Literature/TheGardenOfSinners'': a key part of the plot revolves around Shiki's split personality ([[spoiler:and the consequences of its death]]), but Tohko correctly notes that what she has cannot be called split personalities, as they're far too independent and separate from each other (see quote).
-->'''Shiki:''' There's nothing funny about having a dual personality.\\
'''Tohko:''' No, no. You know, you two don't have anything as pleasing to look at as dissociative identity disorder. Existing simultaneously, each having its own unique will, and on top of that, your actions are coordinated. That sort of complex personality shouldn't be called a "dissociated identity," but rather a "united independent personality."
* In ''Manga/SgtFrog'', Momoka and "the Other Momoka" do this sometimes. We later learn her mother Ouka has a similar situation.
* Zetsu from ''Franchise/{{Naruto}}'' also has an easygoing, carefree side, and a very calculating side, both evil. In the dub, they [[TheOtherDarrin originally]] even had their own individual voice actor. [[spoiler:[[LiteralSplitPersonality And can even split apart.]]]]

* In ''Franchise/OnePiece'', during the Thriller Bark arc, Usopp has a conversation with his alter ego Sogeking.
* Yaya gets this with Nana in ''Manga/{{Othello}}'' after she is aware of her split personality.

* In ''Anime/PrincessTutu'', after [[spoiler: Mytho's heart is poisoned by the Raven's blood, he often asks "what the other him inside of him wants," and protests its actions.]]
* ''Literature/RebuildWorld'': Due to others being unable to see Alpha, Akira looks like he's talking to himself like a crazy person early in his career. This later stops once Akira agrees to the part of the contract that grants him {{Telepathy}} with her, but people still give him funny looks when he suddenly looks off in another direction as if he's lost in thought.

* Everyone with a Yami side in ''Anime/YuGiOh'' and ''[[Anime/YuGiOhGX GX]]'': Yugi and Atem, Malik and Yami Malik, Fubuki and Darkness, Saiou and the Light of Ruin... Of course, in most cases, these are actually separate characters, who inhabit the bodies of the regular ones.
** A rather odd example happened in a two-part episode in ''GX'' where Mizuchi confronted Judai and Edo in a virtual world. To face them in a team duel, she used virtual technology to divide herself into two different avatars, who were able to talk to each other despite technically being the same person.

* ''Manga/DeathNote'': Only people who have touched a Death Note can see and hear the book's shinigami, making it look to other people like they're talking to themselves.
* In one episode of ''Anime/YuGiOhGX'', [[BigBad Saiou's]] sister Mizuchi traps Judai and Edo in a virtual reality arena and challenges them. In order to face them two-on-two, she uses virtual technology to somehow divide herself into two Mizuchis. Despite the fact that they are, for all practical purposes, the same person, they are able to converse with each other this way throughout the whole duel.
* SplitPersonalities Shirou and Shiho from ''Manga/MyMonsterSecret'' can talk inside their mind, but they can also take control of separate body parts, and talk to each other from the parts they control. The fact that there are voices coming out from places without mouths is never addressed.
* In ''Manga/TokyoGhoul'', one of the major symptoms of Kaneki's SanitySlippage is having conversations with an imaginary Rize. She readily informs him that she's merely a part of his subconscious, given a form that lets him distance himself from those darker impulses and thoughts. In the sequel, Sasaki experiences the same hallucinated conversations with [[spoiler: a Kakuja-form Kaneki]], and later, the two make peace and begin readily carrying on conversations with each other. Whether it's a genuine case of SplitPersonality or not is unclear.
* The MainCharacter of ''VisualNovel/SteinsGate'', Okabe Rintarou is a self-proclaimed MadScientist that often talks to someone who doesn't exist with a turned-off phone, often mentioning an Organization that didn't exist or that it's all the will of Steins Gate [[spoiler: (Which per his words, doesn't really have meaning, it just sounds cool)]]. [[spoiler: The funny thing is that while it's not what he meant, later on it was revealed that there's an Organization that functions just like what he said in his fictional conversation. SERN on Alpha World Line and DURPA/Stratfor on Beta World Line.]]

* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'''s ComicBook/TwoFace.
** Also, the Ventriloquist and Scarface. The Ventriloquist firmly believes that the puppet Mr. Scarface is alive, but he's the one controlling and voicing him the entire time. This actually makes the character very tragic, as the Ventriloquist himself is a mild-mannered and reasonably nice person bound into an abusive relationship with himself.
** Or Scarface might actually BE alive and a vessel of the evils over 300 hanged men committed. Or something. [[DependingOnTheWriter It varies]]. though with the original Ventriloquist now dead and a [[DistaffCounterpart female replacement]] having shown up, it's somewhat more credible, although she's visibly as crazy as the original. Scarface's explanation is simply that he was looking for a more comfortable place to sit.
* ''ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk'': Bruce Banner and his many personalities have done this, but generally only the ones not "active" at the time. At one point it was lampshaded that it was just a metaphor for his inner struggle and he was just imagining it.
* In ''ComicBook/JeanGrey'' #7, the titular teen heroine holds a conversation with her ghostly adult self. Ghost Jean notes with irony her younger self doesn't want to appear she's talking to herself as she's actually literally talking to herself.
-->'''Ghost Jean:''' And I don't understand why you're wearing headphones right now.[...]\\
'''Teen Jean:''' Because it makes it seem... like I'm not a crazy person. Talking to herself.[...]\\
'''Ghost Jean:''' Heh. There's the irony, right? You '''are''' talking to yourself.

* ComicBook/{{Deadpool}} does that in a way that BreaksTheFourthWall: he has entire discussions with his own thought boxes. Of which he has two distinct sets: the first set was originally the standard yellow narration boxes often seen in comics, except that he interacts with them. Sometime in the 2000s, a second set appeared, white boxes written in Courier, as though it was being written on a typewriter. Thus far, the two voices haven't developed separate personalities, and bear a suspicious resemblance to [[Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000 Crow and Tom Servo]]. This being Deadpool, he is aware that the reader can see them.
** It was revealed in a Deadpool annual that the white caption boxes were, in fact, the old supervillain Madcap, who also was insane and had a complete healing factor. Apparently, they were both blasted to ash and their ashes co-mingled, so when Deadpool reformed Madcap was trapped inside his head. [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext This being a Deadpool comic, that is the extent of the explanation we get.]]
** The video game gives them the personalities of "serious" and "child", though even the serious one is completely bonkers.
* Triplicate Girl/Triad from the ''ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes'' does this very often when her three bodies are separate, the three of them talking amongst themselves and even arguing at times. This is especially true for her Post-''ComicBook/ZeroHourCrisisInTime [[CrisisCrossover Hour]]'' reboot version. (While her powers are common for the inhabitants of her planet, this sort of behavior is not; they consider it a form of insanity, although her grandmother insisted it was natural.)
* Since their rebirth as a child ''Comicbook/{{Loki}}'' has this. [[spoiler:In ''Comicbook/JourneyIntoMysteryGillen'' Kid!Loki's pet magpie and evil advisor, Ikol existed only in his head and was the remnant of his old self's consciousness. In ''ComicBook/YoungAvengers'' and later ''Comicbook/LokiAgentOfAsgard'' their BodySnatcher old/next self has the Kid around, who acts as conscience.]]
* ComicBook/MoonKnight has three different aliases other than his super-hero one, with those three being Marc Spector (the original), Steven Grant (filthy rich investor) and Jake Lockley (taxi driver). In more recent runs, they are depicted as being different personalities caused by DID, and the three are talking to each other.
* ''ComicBook/{{Daredevil}}'':
** After being crushed down by a long series of events starting with ''ComicBook/BornAgain'' and included having his sanity crushed by [[Characters/DaredevilCentralRoguesGallery Typhoid Mary]], faking his own death and visiting Hell, Matt started experiencing hallucinations which included being attacked by and talking to his various alter egos - different interpretations of Daredevil he adopted over the years.
** At the beginning of [[ComicBook/DaredevilCharlesSoule Soule's run]]. The Purple Man created a device that, in combination with his and his children's abilities, allowed him to create a mental world and trap Matt in it. This manifested as a bar with the customers being the various stages of Daredevil's incarnations; from the college-age vigilante to the edgy 90's "replacement" to the cheerful sharp-dressed and open with his SecretIdentity guy. All of them have an argument over what is the worst thing they could possibly do, and each expresses a different opinion.

* ''Fanfic/AbraxasHrodvitnon'': In this ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019'' fanfiction; in [[Characters/AbraxasHrodvitnonMonsterX San and Vivienne Graham]]'s first form as TwoBeingsOneBody, Vivienne's head at first is the only one that has a mouth, leading to San at times taking control of her vocal cords to communicate and either of the two going back-and-forth. Alan Jonah's paramilitary initially mistakes it for the hybrid being crazy before they become certain that there are two minds rather than one in the ArtificialHybrid.
* ''Fanfic/ACrownOfStars'': Asuka does this a lot, especially after [[spoiler:she and Shinji got together.]] Her self-loathing constantly berates her, calling her a useless and worthless whore that does not deserve Shinji and worse things. After a while, in chapter 59 she seemed finally to defeat her inward darkness after a long inner argument.

--->''She is astonishingly gorgeous. Which is '''really''' disturbing, since intel says that [[PlotRelevantAgeUp she was only about twelve until ten minutes ago.]]''\\
''Error. Observation irrelevant.''\\
''Accurate though''.\\
''Error. Still irrelevant.''
** The sequel, ''Ghosts of the Past'' has Harry talk to an older alternate version of himself who, for the sake of simplicity, goes by Nathan. The two get on reasonably well, in between the SnarkToSnarkCombat, and Nathan provides his younger counterpart with some valuable insights.

* ''Manga/Evangelion303'': [[{{Tsundere}} Asuka]]'s inner turmoil and conversations are shown like two Asukas talking to each other. Usually, her common sense is lecturing her -constantly on display- emotional side. It can be seen in chapters 4, 12 and 14. [[http://grummancat.deviantart.com/art/Cross-Examination-375620563 Here is an example]].
* ''Fanfic/OnceMoreWithFeeling'': Invoked when Shinji talks to the [[EldritchAbomination Lilith's ghost]]. She tells him that she's sort of a memory in his mind, and Shinji thinks "Oh, great, now I'm talking to myself".

"Understandable" she nodded. "If it helps, think of me… as an echo of the events, a shadow without form, nothing more then a memory in your mind".\\
"Well uh… you're a rather… talkative memory" he replied, then stopped. Oh God, am I talking to myself now he asked in despair…
* ''Fanfic/{{Luminosity}}'''s Elspeth has this as a manifestation of her witch power. [[spoiler:And can make more if need be.]]
* Cruise Control in ''WebAnimation/TurnaboutStorm'', although ''[[NoIndoorVoice yelling]]'' [[LargeHam to himself]] would be far more accurate. [[spoiler:At least when he's ObfuscatingStupidity]].

* ''Fanfic/ScarTissue'': Shinji and Asuka developed two versions of it after Third Impact:
** Shinji's guilt and extreme self-loathing and self-contempt became so strong that Shinji developed a split personality, a nightmarish version of himself that loved torturing him and mind-raping him night after night, reminding him of all his wrongs and sins over and over and over again. He listened to its voice almost every time he closed his eyes and sometimes it almost drove him mad. In chapter 14 [[spoiler:Shinji finally manages to defeat it and make peace with himself and his enormous guilt.]]
** In contrast, Asuka’s common sense and compassion manifested like a voice that pleaded with her stopping to hurt Shinji and help him, or blamed her for his pain.
* In ''Fanfic/HarryPotterAndTheMethodsOfRationality'', Harry creates lots of internal voices to debate various courses of action in his head. He creates one representing each Hogwarts House along with a few more standard ones like the Inner Critic. Amusingly, at one point in the story, most of the voices decide to mercilessly make fun of him when they think he's putting too much thought into something.
* In Part 1 of ''Cave Story Versus I M Meen'', Jack, naturally being a Woobie and all, [[GoMadFromTheRevelation completely loses his mind]] after watching Sue and Toroko fuck each other seemingly to death and then being wrongfully thrown in jail afterwards. Naturally, this leads to a very bizarre, [[RoomFullOfCrazy insane]] and [[LargeHam intensely melodramatic]] case of Main/TalkingToThemself as he paints the floor with cornbread, ketchup, mustard, and ''[[GrossOutShow his own nose mucus, vomit and toe jam.]]''
--> '''Jack:''' [[WesternAnimation/EarthwormJim I'm just Toroko but I'm gonna barf too, and the MUSTARD, MUSTARD BARF MUSTARD BARF!!! BEHOLD the GOOEY SLOP of our SORROW! IT IS...SLOBBER...DAMMERÜNG!]] ''[[ChewingTheScenery THE TWILIGHT OF THE CONDIMENTS...WEEP FOR THEM, WEEP FOR THEIR SORROW-HO-HOHO-HOHH!]]'' ''[[CaptainObvious Yes, Jack, my delicate psyche has come horribly unglued!]]''
* ''Fanfic/LathboraViran'' has Solas speaking to an inner voice, sometimes called "the Wolf".
* In ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer''/''ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}'' crossover ''Fanfic/TheVampireOfSteel'', Buffy is running from several guards after blowing her cover. She chides herself... and then chides herself for wasting time on chiding herself.
-->Stupid. Stupid stupid stupid stupid.\\
Shut up, mind. Do your job. Find me a way out of this.
* ''Fanfic/FreakinGensokyo'': Brad meets a [[TheUnfettered violent, uninhibited]] version of himself in the Dream World. They have quite a productive chat about beating people up.
* According to Swallow Star in ''Fanfic/ApprenticeAndPregnant'', the first thing he noticed that seemed off about [[spoiler:Applefur]] was that she began talking to herself. Her behavior became increasingly unusual until he found her attempting to [[DrivenToSuicide drown herself]]. That was over a year ago and she's been on medicine since.
* Fan-made Twilight parody ''Theatre/TwilightTheMusical'' uses this comically. [[FriendlyNeighborhoodVampire Edward Cullen]] must argue his evil reflection about whether or not he should eat Bella. Further HilarityEnsues in later episodes, when his schizo conversations grow to include more characters: a doll and cardboard stand-up of Robert Pattinson.
* ''WebVideo/DragonBallZAbridged'' has Piccolo do this after fusing with Nail, who remains a voice in Piccolo's head. Nail claims he'll fade away into Piccolo's subconscious eventually, but he shows no signs of this. This just gets worse with the addition of Kami.

-->'''Kirito's Left Brain:''' YOU FOOL! YOU'VE DOOMED US ALL!!\\
'''Kirito's Right Brain:''' H-hey, uh, she seems pretty happy about it! Maybe she knows something we don't?!\\

'''Asuna's Right Brain:''' ''I DON'T KNOOOOOOWWW!!''

* Thanks to her years in the asylum, Weiss in ''Fanfic/FightingForTheFuture'' frequently imagines having conversations with her teammates in her head and responding to them out loud, either complimenting an idea "Ruby" came up with or calling "Yang" out on making a terrible pun.
* In Literature/{{Discworld}} fics by Creator/AAPessimal, young Witch Rebecka Smith-Rhodes will have inner dialogues with her "Second Thoughts" which surface whenever she needs a prompt. Usually, her Second Thoughts speak to her in the voice of her mother, a woman Bekki recognises as being worldly-wise, resourceful and somewhat cynical, an inner voice which is still her but which has full permission to think and voice all the thoughts Bekki can't quite bring herself to think. At a time of ''real'' peril, however, Bekki - who has received a set of [[MatryoshkaObject matroschkya dolls]] from a soon-to-die Literature/BabaYaga - discovers that like [[UsefulNotes/{{Russia}} Rodinian]] stacking dolls - her inner thoughts can go all the way back to "Fifth Thoughts".

[[folder:Films — Animation]]
* From the ''Toys/{{Bionicle}}'' animated movies:

** Roodaka in ''Web of Shadows'' constantly whispers to her master Makuta (and thus keeps the audience up to speed with her plan), who's at the time encased in crystal, by talking to stones representing him. As Makuta can activate a PsychicLink with her even in his dormant state, maybe she's not as insane as she looks.
* No dialogue, but in [[WesternAnimation/PixarShorts Pixar's short film]] ''Geri's Game'', an old man plays chess with himself. He plays white as a cautious, easily-intimidated [[spoiler: but victorious through cheating]] player and black as a gleefully aggressive one. He doesn't seem to be mentally ill, just fooling around by staying in character ''very'' well ... so much so that, when the white player [[spoiler: fakes a heart attack]], the black player ''believes it''.
* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Pocahontas}}'', the characters of villain Governor Ratcliffe as well as Ratcliffe's manservant Wiggins are voiced by the late Creator/DavidOgdenStiers. The first is done in Stiers' normal speaking voice while the second is done in the same British accent he used for his previous role of Cogsworth in ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast'' and its related animated works.

[[folder:Films — Live-Action]]

* Half the dialogue of ''Film/DieHard'' is [=McClane=] talking to himself - though some of that is him ThinkingOutLoud, and he's alone throughout most of the action.
* ''Film/Disenchanted2022:'' [[spoiler:As the curse starts afflicting her, Giselle begins arguing with her WickedStepmother persona, trying to get her to stop. Since she's doing it in broad daylight, she gets some odd looks. Evil Giselle wins out.]]
* ''Film/FightClub'' has [[spoiler: the nameless protagonist talking to his SplitPersonality Tyler]].
* ''[[Film/FridayThe13th1980 Friday the 13th]]'': [[spoiler:The stress of her son, Jason's death seems to have broken Pamela Voorhees' mind and given birth to a split personality that assumes Jason's persona. While hunting Alice, these two personalities are seen conversing with each other.]]

* Subverted in ''Film/NoTimeToDie''. Ernst Stavro Blofeld has been in solitary confinement in a maximum security prison for so long he's apparently gone mad, holding long rambling soliloquies with himself. Turns out he ''is'' talking to someone, using his bionic eye to see what his henchman Cyclops (who has a [[EyeSpy similar bionic eye]]) is seeing and relaying orders through him, thus [[MightAsWellNotBeInPrisonAtAll running SPECTRE by remote control]].

* ''Film/SpiderManTrilogy'': Norman Osborn/the Green Goblin did it on occasion; [[Film/SpiderMan1 the first movie]] contains such a scene, made all the more memorable by Willem Dafoe's excellent performance, talking to his Green Goblin personality in his mirror.
* Spoofed in ''Film/SuicideSquad2016'', Harley Quinn says the voices in her head said that she should kill everyone and escape. Then she laughs and say, "Just kidding. That's not what they said."
* In ''Film/XMenDaysOfFuturePast'', [[spoiler: Future Charles and Past Charles are able to have a heartfelt conversation, with the former ultimately reviving the latter's broken resolve.]]

'''Man:''' Yes, doctor - but I'm ''such a bore''!

* In ''Beyond the Barrier'' by Creator/DamonKnight [[spoiler:a creature that has spent many years hiding inside, and as, a human can no longer shake that side of himself. He is challenged to do what the human would do and not what he wants to do]]

** In ''Literature/TheTruth'', Altogether Andrews of the beggars has eight personalities (none of them, oddly enough, named Andrews). Each one gets a vote when the crew is deciding something. [[ParanoiaFuel Except for]] [[HeWhoMustNotBeSeen Burke.]] [[TakeOurWordForIt Nobody wants to]] [[NoodleIncident see Burke again.]]
** And Agnes Nitt can't have a single thought without Perdita arguing with it.

* Tiffany Aching especially will have long inner conversations with her "Second Thoughts" and occasionally on a good day her "Third Thoughts" - effectively deeper parts of her mind that think differently and more deeply and which advise her on a meta-level. This is not uncommon for Witches on the Disc.
* ''Series/TheDevilJudge'': Sun-ah sometimes talks to herself when she wants to praise herself, saying things like "you're perfect, Sun-ah!" or "[[ThirdPersonPerson Jung Sun-ah is incredible]]" in front of her mirror.
* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' ExpandedUniverse novels, aside from the Doctor literally meeting themself, their past incarnations are said to be asleep in their mind. Traumatic events can sometimes cause them to awaken and give unasked-for advice, with the current Doctor usually reacting [[IHatePastMe the same way they do when they meet them for real]]. As in the series, the Doctor also sometimes talks out loud when they're without a companion because they're used to explaining the situation to someone to help them think.

* ''Literature/{{Falling Up|Bromberg}}'' by Creator/BrianJBromberg:

…\\

* One memorable sequence in ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' features Gollum arguing with himself -- a concept transferred rather successfully to the movies.

* ''Literature/RebuildWorld'': Due to others being unable to see [[VirtualSidekick Alpha]], Akira looks like he's talking to himself like a crazy person early in his career. This later stops once Akira agrees to the part of the contract that grants him {{Telepathy}} with her, but people still give him funny looks when he suddenly looks off in another direction as if he's lost in thought. At least once Akira accidentally talks to Alpha in front of someone else when he’s too relaxed.
* ''Requiem for an Assassin'' (aka ''The Killer Ascendant'') by Barry Eisler. While smoking dope in a coffee bar in Rotterdam, HitmanWithAHeart Literature/JohnRain has a conversation with 'The Iceman', the cold-blooded killer part of his personality, who derides his belief that he can retire from his life as a ProfessionalKiller.
* Creator/MichaelFlynn's ''Literature/SpiralArm'': In ''Up Jim River'', Donovan. His multiple personalities were induced deliberately, but the manner was bungled -- also, perhaps, deliberately.

** In ''Literature/GalaxyOfFear'' Tash speaks to a ghost who is InvisibleToNormals - no one else can see, hear, or otherwise perceive him. The Big Bad watches her try to elicit his help and assumes she's talking to herself.
** Variation in the ''Literature/NewJediOrder''. Tahiri and her implanted [[ScaryDogmaticAliens Yuuzhan Vong]] alter-ego Riina have several conversations inside Tahiri's mindscape, but never talk to each other out lout- Tahiri is shown to black out whenever Riina takes control of their body, making this sort of interaction impossible (Riina, for her part, states that she is [[AndIMustScream aware, but impotent]] while Tahiri is in the driver's seat).
* Creator/LoisMcMasterBujold's ''Literature/VorkosiganSaga'': In ''Literature/MirrorDance'', when Mark develops split personalities, they not only talk but actively choose which personality will be in control at a given time.
* In ''Literature/TheWorldShuffler'', at one point, O'Leary is "sick, freezing, starving, hung-over, and dyspeptic", not to mention lost and frustrated, and he begins talking to himself. And answering himself. He acknowledges--to himself--that it's a sign of insanity, but responds "Poof, what's a little touch of schizophrenia, among all my other ailments?"

* ''Series/BabylonFive'': A season 3 episode has Doctor Franklin get stabbed while stopping someone from being killed in [[TheCityNarrows Down Below]], and being left for dead. As he calls for help, he is answered... by a hallucination of himself, in all his DoctorJerk glory. What ensues is a withering TheReasonYouSuckSpeech, with Hallucination!Franklin telling Bleeding!Franklin that he is a failure, that he always runs away from his problems rather than face them, and that if he had another chance, that he'd screw it all up anyway. This turns into a RousingSpeech after Franklin refuses to give up, even if it ''does'' mean failing more, as his hallucination drives him to drag himself, bleeding, to a populated part of the station to seek help.
* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': In the final episodes of season 5, the arguments between Glory and [[spoiler: Ben]], though in this case, they are distinct characters with different actors who just happen to be sharing a body. They've been turning into one another back and forth for years, but only in that instance are they able to interact this way because the mystical barriers keeping them separate were breaking down. Their personalities also start bleeding into one another just before they are able to interact.
* ''Series/{{Cheers}}'': The episode "Diane Meets Mom" has Diane talking to herself to give herself the courage to stand up to Hester Crane, who has threatened to kill her, though Diane is not crazy (after all, she just got out of a ment- ''[[InsistentTerminology health spa]]'' where she met Frasier). Doesn't stop an alarmed Sam from witnessing the scene and lamenting how he spent a whole year romancing her.
* ''Series/CriminalMinds'': The season 2 episodes "The Big Game" and "Revelations" dealt with a man named Tobias Hankel (James Van Der Beek) who was abused by his psychotic father after his mother left for another man, telling him that everything he did was a sin and abused him by claiming he's doing "God's work". He ended up killing his father but he remained as a split personality of his, and when he murdered people he called himself "Raphael" which is one of the archangels. Sometimes he would argue with himself as his father and switch between the three personalities at random: as himself, he was friendly and helpful, as Charles his father he was abusive and gave lectures, and as Raphael, he would murder someone or force his hostages to choose which victims would live or die.

** When the [[Characters/DoctorWhoThirteenthDoctor Thirteenth Doctor]] is alone, she sometimes talks to herself like the companions are still there, often to either cheer herself up or keep her brain busy. She weaponizes this in "The Timeless Children", where she essentially talks herself out of a HeroicBSOD. She also uses this trope to get through being imprisoned in the time gap between the Series 12 finale and "[[Recap/DoctorWho2021NYSRevolutionOfTheDaleks Revolution of the Daleks]]".

** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E12NightmareInSilver "Nightmare in Silver"]]: The Doctor seemingly talks to himself when [[spoiler:the Cybermen attempt to take over his mind.]] He even plays a game of chess with himself while in this state.
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS38E1E2Spyfall "Spyfall"]]: At the beginning of part 2, the Doctor explicitly does this both to assure herself that she's still alive, and presumably to calm herself down after being stranded in an EldritchLocation.
* Alpha from ''Series/{{Dollhouse}}'' regularly engages in arguments between the various imprinted personalities within his mind.
** More justified than most, because he's not a normal case, but rather somebody with multiple artificial personalities. As such all of them are constantly "on". Also, he actually does have a few personalities with schizophrenia or multiple personality disorder, but it doesn't seem that the personalities with actual mental disorders can talk to themselves.
* ''Series/TheFlash2014'': By Season 5, Caitlin Snow eventually develops this dynamic with her SuperPoweredEvilSide [[AnIcePerson Killer Frost]]. At first, they need the psychic device they used to defeat [=DeVoe=] in the previous season finale, although over time they're able to talk to each other without it.
* ''Series/FullHouse'': Michelle did this in the final episode after she lost her memory and she ended up to talking to her inner self.
* ''Series/{{Heroes}}'':
** Niki/Jessica.
** In Volume Four, [[spoiler:Sylar]] starts to have conversations with his dead mother. And since he has VoluntaryShapeshifting, he assumes her form for her side of the conversation, too.

-->"How could you be phoning me?"\\
"Jesus! I'm not phoning you. I'm in your head."

** ''Series/KamenRiderBuild'': After regaining his memories and becoming the identity in control, [[AmnesiacHero Sento Kiryu]] occasionally converses with his original [[AmnesiacDissonance self]] in a mindscape with doors, equations and gears. They get along about as well as a misantropic [[SillyRabbitIdealismIsForKids cynic]] and an ubreakable [[SillyRabbitCynicismIsForLosers optimist]] sharing a mind could.

* ''Series/{{Smallville}}'': The good Alexander and the evil ComicBook/LexLuthor does this and even get into a fight.

* Music/KanyeWest does this in the track "I Thought About Killing You" off the album ''ye'', which is not directed at you, the listener, but rather Kanye himself, ruminating over his then-newly-diagnosed UsefulNotes/BipolarDisorder. The album in general circles around Kanye loosely [[SplitPersonality identifying himself as two entities with significantly conflicting personalities and motives]], but are ultimately one and the same, and the song, in particular, is his attempt to [[TalkingDownTheSuicidal reason himself away from suicidal thoughts]].

[[folder:Pro Wrestling]]

* On [[Wrestling/WWERaw Monday Night Raw]] Wrestling/{{R|onKillings}}-Truth called Wrestling/TripleH crazy for talking to himself, even though Truth was talking to people no one could see seconds beforehand.

* The musical ''Theatre/JekyllAndHyde'' has "Jekyll" and "Hyde" do this. And, of course, they're both played by the same actor, who has to go through quite a bit of effort to make it feel like a dialogue between two different people.
* ''Theatre/{{Medea}}'' debates with herself out loud about whether or not [[spoiler:to murder her children]]. She doesn't actually have multiple personalities but the scene bears striking similarities to many of these.
* In the National Theatre's 2014 production of ''Theatre/{{Treasure Island|2014}}'', Ben Gunn holds several spirited conversations with himself, which he explains to Jim is a result of having had nobody else to talk to for all these years.

-->'''Harvey''': It's okay, Bruce... I'll go... I don't deserve your help.\\
'''Two-Face''': Go off with your tail between your legs.

-->[[spoiler:'''Junko''': [[WhamLine It's]] ''[[WhamLine me!]]'' [[EvilLaugh Puhu! Puhuhuhuhu!]] Well, they're pretty much the same. [[BadIsGoodAndGoodIsBad White despair. Black hope.]] In the end, neither won... but I guess that works too. I mean, I didn't really give a damn about this town from the beginning. The fact that ''those'' guys will take an interest in this place will yield a ''much'' more fruitful harvest. Hey! Don't you think so? Personally, I think they did a ''pretty'' good job for a group of kids. Hey, hey! Don't you think so? Thanks to them, the preparations are nearly ''complete!'' [[CallForward Laying the foundations for]] [[VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair the final match]]—it's ''so'' despairingly perfect! Hey, hey, hey! Don't you--]]
* In ''VideoGame/DarkFall: Lost Souls'', [[spoiler: it's a case of ''Texting'' To Themself, as it turns out that "Echo" is the Inspector's own nagging conscience.]]

* In ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'', Charon, a Ghoul companion the player can recruit, has a habit of saying things like "Over here!" and "Keep firing!" to himself in combat, and when sneaking or waiting will mutter unintelligibly. He's not outright stated to have multiple personalities, but his backstory is traumatic enough to allow for it.
* [[FunnySchizophrenia Best Friend Tabitha]] in ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas''. It's heavily implied that this is the case on her radio show, where she claims to be doing an interview with "Rhonda", only to say mournfully to herself later, "I still miss you, Rhonda, after all these years." Raul also refers to Rhonda as "Tabitha" briefly before hastily correcting himself.
* [[spoiler:Vayne Aurelius and his SuperpoweredEvilSide]] at the end of ''VideoGame/ManaKhemiaAlchemistsOfAlrevis''.

* Fred/Napoleon Bonaparte from ''VideoGame/{{Psychonauts}}'', the latter being more a manifestation of Fred's crippling insecurities and low self-esteem. Fred's completely aware that Napoleon is a figment of his imagination; he just can't make him go away. [[spoiler: And he should know all about insanity, he used to be the orderly.]]
* ''VideoGame/SpecOpsTheLine'': [[spoiler:the big reveal [[TheEndingChangesEverything at the end of the game]] is that the BigBad has been DeadAllAlong. The conversations protagonist Capt. Walker had with Col. Konrad over the second half of the story were all one-sided - Walker was hallucinating a voice over a broken walkie-talkie, one that was acting as [[TheConscience his conscience]] when berating him for his actions. When Walker finds Konrad's corpse and is forced to face the truth, there's a moment where Walker is clearly seen moving his mouth when "Konrad" is talking.]]
* In ''VideoGame/VampireTheMasqueradeBloodlines'' [[spoiler: Therese and Jeanette Voerman]] have protracted and extremely noisy arguments - most of which are held behind closed doors.
** At one of the main climaxes in Santa Monica you can find [[spoiler: her as half Therese and half Jeanette. With a gun to "their" head. You have to talk them down so they can coexist (which is extremely difficult this early in the game) or influence the "death" of one of them, only leaving the other.]]
* In ''VideoGame/{{Team Fortress 2}}'', equipping [[https://wiki.teamfortress.com/wiki/Second_Opinion The Second Opinion]] on the Medic will cause this.
-->"'''Do you ever think that you might be going mad?'''"\\
"Oh, all zhe time. I don't zhink it's anyzhing to worry about."
* In ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemptionII'', as Dutch's SanitySlippage worsens, he can be heard doing this starting late Chapter 4. Unlike the usual "muttering to yourself" that Arthur (and most people in real life) can sometimes do, Dutch talks in full conversations and at one point even plays a verbal game of chess despite being alone.

* ''VisualNovel/HigurashiWhenTheyCry'':
** [[spoiler:Shion and Rena literally argue against a [[HatePlague voice]] in their mind that convinces them to become distrustful of others and commit violent acts in their personal arcs.]]
* ''VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry'':
** This turns out to be the case with [[spoiler:Shannon, Kanon and Beatrice]], who are all personas of [[spoiler:Sayo Yasuda]], and whose discussions symbolize the conflicts that exist [[spoiler:in Sayo's heart]]. This is done so seamlessly that you most likely won't notice it until much later in the story, and when you [[RewatchBonus reread the series]] with this trope in mind every conversation between them changes completely.
** Eva also does this with her imagined younger self, who later becomes EVA-Beatrice.

* First off, there's been one occasion in ''Webcomic/AnsemRetort'' where Aerith's split personalities have addressed each other. And then there's the time Axel and Zexion hijack a plane and try to negotiate with the governor... Zexion. Who talks to his chief advisor... Axel.

* Anna and Susan do this in ''Webcomic/{{Sire}}'' when they want to discuss private matters, such as Emilie [[spoiler: being descended from InspectorJavert]] or [[spoiler: how none of the other characters know that they were the ones that murdered Paul.]]

[[folder:Web Original]]
* Jen Delaney of ''Literature/TheJenkinsverse'' originally starts talking to herself to stave off loneliness during four months alone in an alien world. Over time, "Old Jen" - the embodiment of her timid nobody former self - becomes a fully-fledged mental voice with her own opinions, who carries on conversations with "New Jen".
* In ''Roleplay/SurvivalOfTheFittest'', Kaleigh Jones, Nessy Guthrie, and arguably Cillian Crowe go through this. Oddly, Kaleigh seemed to be able to decide which of her personalities was in control at any given time. A lot of V6's Benjamin Lichter dialogue is also him talking to a voice in his head, though it's left ambiguous whether or not it's actually another personality or just a side of himself he can't bare to admit he has.
* The Literature/WhateleyUniverse has Generator (Jade Sinclair). [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in the fact that Jade's main power is in splitting off telekinetic manifestations of her soul/spirit - which makes it a lot easier for her to do that than it would for most people. Also either [[JustifiedTrope justified]] or subverted in that each manifestation ''does'' have the same memories and experiences as Jade when they first split off from her - it's only time that changes this. [[spoiler: Too long away from each other tends to lead to Jade passing out when they reunite, due to SensoryOverload while her brain assimilates the memories.]]
* Each page on Website/TVTropes (except for discussion and Troper Tales) is supposed to look like it was written by the same person and therefore, tropers are not supposed to refer to themselves individually (by saying "I" or "This troper") or have arguments on trope pages. However, some tropers do this anyway, making such pages look like they were written by someone with a SplitPersonality who is TalkingToThemself.
* In ''Literature/StarHarborNights'' [[spoiler:Perfect]] does this with a stuff rabbit.
* In ''[[Webcomic/AsteroidQuest Polokoa Quest]]'', this is the first indication that Rokolo is less stable than she claims to be. In a subversion, it's not a symptom of wholesale insanity, but rather the side-effects of her MadScientist experiments and her BizarreAlienBiology. It's still not a good sign, of course.
-->'''Rokolo (from Polokoa's perspective):''' Fuck, ‘[[HearingVoices they]]’ don’t even really exist! It’s just parts of my mind being a bit delusional. That’s a- ''Shut UP [[spoiler:Polo]] you’re an aerospace engineer you don’t know SHIT about neurobiology OR psychiatry!!''
* In ''Literature/{{Twig}}'', Sylvester starts hallucinating projections of the other Lambs which offer him tactical advice and companionship, including Evette, [[ImaginaryFriend who was never actually a person.]]

* Karim Debbache does it constantly in ''WebVideo/{{Crossed}}'', with his "other self" often intervening to make naive remarks or ask stupid questions.
-->'''Karim:''' You want to know how shitty TheNineties were? I grew up in the nineties, and now I'm on the Internet, talking to myself.

* In ''WebVideo/FiftyPercentOff'', instead of having internal monologues, [[CloudCuckoolander Haru]] has a whole collection of Harus in his mind who like to argue, play board games, sing the ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales1987'' theme song, put on wrestling matches, murder each other...
* ''WebAnimation/FreedomToons'': "Every Rubin Report Ever" ends with Dave Rubin interviewing "Rave Dubin".

* ''WesternAnimation/AroundTheWorldInEightyDays''; Mr. Fix would do this often throughout the series. Ex: "Have you got a plan, Mr. Fix?" "Have I got a plan, Mr. Fix? Have I got a plan?"
%%* ''WesternAnimation/FairlyOddParents'': Foop suffers from this.

--->'''Pinkie at drums:''' [[ToughRoom Woo, tough crowd.]]\\

* ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'' Season 5 shows that after the 50-year timeskip, Aku now conjures up a psychiatrist clone of himself to vent his frustrations to. It's much more helpful than Jack's subconscious trying to goad him into {{Seppuku}}.
* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' features Mr. Garrison engaged in constant dialogue with his puppet, Mr. Hat. Made even stranger by the fact that Mr. Hat would sometimes do things without Garrison's knowledge. Weirdly, Garrison understands that Mr. Twig is inanimate and only pretends to talk to him, while he sees Mr. Hat as a sentient being.

** Stevonnie, the unprecedented fusion of [[HalfHumanHybrid Steven]] and [[TheTeamNormal Connie]], does this fairly frequently, even as they've become more stable over time. For instance, from [[Recap/StevenUniverseS5E12JungleMoon "Jungle Moon"]]:
--->"Good night, Stevonnie."\\
"Good night, Stevonnie."

*** In [[Recap/StevenUniverseS2E11KeepingItTogether "Keeping It Together"]], her utter horror at seeing [[spoiler:the forced fusion experiments created by Homeworld]] causes her components [[spoiler:Ruby and Sapphire]] to react individually, and she nearly defuses.
*** In [[Recap/StevenUniverseS2E15KeystoneMotel "Keystone Motel"]], her anger over [[spoiler:Pearl's deception in the previous episode]] causes [[spoiler:Ruby and Sapphire]] to have an argument. This time, they ''do'' defuse before they eventually make up.
** Alexandrite, the fusion of Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl, does this fairly notably in her debut, [[Recap/StevenUniverseS1E32FusionCuisine "Fusion Cuisine"]] when the three Gems start having an argument over eating that leads directly to them defusing.
** [[spoiler:Malachite]], by ''far'' the most unstable fusion on the show, comprised of [[spoiler:Jasper and Lapis Lazuli]], who ''hate'' each other, does this a ''lot'' early on, to the point that she doesn't have her own voice, instead being voiced by the [=VAs=] of her two components. Her most notable moment of doing this is when [[spoiler:Lapis]] reveals her true intention in accepting the offer to fuse: [[spoiler:to imprison Jasper]].
* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'': The appropriately named villain Billy Numerous. He has the ability to create ''hundreds'' of duplicates of himself, and the duplicates talk to each other ''a lot'', referring to each other as "Billy" as they do so.

** There's also the five-faced Alpha Q in ''Anime/TransformersEnergon''. Years of isolation inside Unicron drove him into insanity just to have someone to talk to. [[spoiler: He does seem to have one core, real personality with a childlike voice. It isn't represented by a face but only manifests itself when he's got his jaws shut.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Kaeloo}}: Starting in season 5, Kaeloo and her split personality Bad Kaeloo talk to each other, which is shown to the audience via one controlling the body and the other being inside a thought bubble.

* Viro in ''Manga/ElementalGelade'' is a spy with the bad fortune to fall for her target. Even worse, he's already an OfficialCouple with Ren. Just when things look like they can't get any worse, she gets the order to kill him. Faced with killing her new friends or a lifetime of unrequited love as a Sting Raid, she gets into an argument with hallucinations of herself as a Sting Raid (complete with a [[EvilIsSexy hot outfit]]) and as a human.

* In Part 1 of ''Cave Story Versus I M Meen'', Jack, naturally being a Woobie and all, [[GoMadFromTheRevelation completely loses his mind]] after watching Sue and Toroko fuck each other seemingly to death and then being wrongfully thrown in jail afterwards. Naturally, this leads to a very [[WidgetSeries bizarre]], [[RoomFullOfCrazy insane]] and [[LargeHam intensely melodramatic]] case of Main/TalkingToThemself as he paints the floor with cornbread, ketchup, mustard, and ''[[GrossOutShow his own nose mucus, vomit and toe jam.]]''

* Norman Osborn/the Green Goblin from ''Franchise/SpiderMan'' did it on occasion; [[Film/SpiderMan1 the first movie]] contains such a scene, made all the more memorable by Willem Dafoe's excellent performance, talking to his Green Goblin personality in his mirror.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Pocahontas}}'', the characters of villain Governor Ratcliffe as well as Ratcliffe's manservant Wiggins are voiced by the late Creator/DavidOgdenStiers. The first is done in Stiers' normal speaking voice while the second is done in the same British accent he used for his previous role of Cogsworth in ''Film/BeautyAndTheBeast'' and its related animated works.

For instances of a person who is ''literally'' speaking to another version of themself due to things such as CloningBlues, LiteralSplitPersonality, or TimeTravel, see WhichMe. For instances of an actor voicing multiple characters (which were named "Talking to Himself"), see ActingForTwo.

* Happens twice in ''ComicBook/{{Daredevil}}''.
** The first time, after being crushed down by a long series of events starting with ''[[ComicBook/DaredevilBornAgain Born Again]]'' and included having his sanity crushed by [[Characters/DaredevilCentralRoguesGallery Typhoid Mary]], faking his own death and visiting Hell, Matt started experiencing hallucinations which included being attacked by and talking to his various alter egos - different interpretations of Daredevil he adopted over the years.
** This happens again at the beginning of [[ComicBook/DaredevilCharlesSoule Soule's run]]. The Purple Man created a device that, in combination with his and his children's abilities, allowed him to create a mental world and trap Matt in it. This manifested as a bar with the customers being the various stages of Daredevil's incarnations; from the college-age vigilante to the edgy 90's "replacement" to the cheerful sharp-dressed and open with his SecretIdentity guy. All of them have an argument over what is the worst thing they could possibly do, and each expresses a different opinion.

-->-- '''The Medic''', when equipped with the [[TwoFaced Second Opinion]], ''VideoGame/{{Team Fortress 2}}''

* In ''Anime/BirdyTheMighty'', Birdy and Tsutomu often talk to each other, and characters around them tend to think that they've gone crazy and are talking to themselves, but entirely retain their own personalities. In the manga, this is even taken so far as Tsutomu not understanding Birdy's superior's speaking, while Birdy herself can.

** ''Series/KamenRiderBuild'': After regaining his memories and becoming the identity in control, [[AmnesiacHero Sento Kiryu]] occasionally converses with his original [[AmnesiacDissonance self]] in a mindscape with doors, equations and gears. They get along about as well as a misantropic [[SillyRabbitIdealismIsForKids cynic]] and an ubreakable[[SillyRabbitCynicismIsForLosers optimist]] sharing a mind could.
* ''Series/KamenRiderRevice'' has Daiji Igarashi and his Demon, Kagerou. Even if only one controlled their body, the other self would talk to them through the nearest mirror.